# Hearing colors - seeing sounds **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 2, 2019, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901 "2019-11-02T04:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/41 "2019-11-05T20:58:52Z")
In what universe is A yellow??? Everyone knows it’s red. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/42 "2019-11-05T21:04:47Z")
It’s funny, it’s common for synesthetes’ A’s to be red and their C’s to be yellow, and it used to drive me nuts in discussions because for me it’s the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/43 "2019-11-05T21:36:54Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > It’s funny, it’s common for synesthetes’ A’s to be red and their C’s to be yellow Sounds more like a medical condition. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/44 "2019-11-05T22:07:21Z")
Is it common for people to have synesthetic tendencies as a child, but to eventually outgrow them? I remember in kindergarten our teacher gave us an assignment to color in the numbers on a worksheet with the same colors as the ones she’s posted on the bulletin board (In retrospect the assignment was probably as much about learning to follow instructions as it was about learning numbers and colors). I completely ignored the instructions and just colored them all in the colors they were “supposed” to be in my mind. And I was very specific. To me 7 was supposed to be a blueish green color, but as I only had the basic Crayola 8 pack, I colored the 7 with both the blue and green crayons in an attempt to get the right shade. When the teacher asked why I had done that, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t get that 7’s just obviously _were_ blue-green. And that a red 7 (or whatever color we were actually instructed to color them) was just _wrong_. But I don’t do that anymore. I don’t remember what age I stopped seeing numbers in specific colors, but I definitely no longer do. All the numbers on that calendar on my cubicle wall are just black (except the holidays and paydays, but only because they’re actually printed in different colors). ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/45 "2019-11-05T22:23:45Z")
Some synesthetes apparently did develop associations from the colors of refrigerator magnet letters, but [scientists are still exploring the link](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/03/160309-synesthesia-fisher-price-refrigerator-magnet-letters/). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/46 "2019-11-06T00:13:32Z")
Everything else has a color so why shouldn’t letters and numbers? Our brains don’t need training to associate colors with things. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/47 "2019-11-06T01:31:52Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Is it common for people to have synesthetic tendencies as a child, but to eventually outgrow them? Yes, many people lose synesthesia around puberty. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/48 "2019-11-06T03:05:38Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Synesthesia can cover mental associations as well; in fact, it’s much more common that way. If you _know_ that A is yellow, because duh of course A = yellow, what else would it be, you don’t have to physically see yellow on the page. I guess, but that’s not how I originally learned the term, I suppose. [Wikipedia says](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia): > [@](#): > > There are two overall forms of synesthesia: > > projective synesthesia: people who see actual colors, forms, or shapes when stimulated **(the widely understood version of synesthesia)**. > > associative synesthesia: people who feel a very strong and involuntary connection between the stimulus and the sense that it triggers. > > For example, in chromesthesia (sound to color), a projector may hear a trumpet, and see an orange triangle in space, while an associator might hear a trumpet, and think very strongly that it sounds “orange”. Bolding mine. So I guess I’ve always thought of synesthesia to be projective synesthesia, and not associative synesthesia. The latter sounds to me more like something called [ideasthesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideasthesia). ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/49 "2019-11-06T16:20:37Z")
The synesthesia message board I was on just called it “projected” or “associative” synesthesia, with both kinds being perfectly valid. The book _Wednesday is Indigo Blue_, which was published in 2009, says that “projected” versus “associative” is an outdated distinction, and that synesthetic experience is a whole spectrum rather than binary. Still all valid. I haven’t been keeping up on the latest research, I must admit. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/50 "2019-11-07T22:14:45Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > …I remember in kindergarten our teacher gave us an assignment to color in the numbers on a worksheet with the same colors as the ones she’s posted on the bulletin board… I completely ignored the instructions and just colored them all in the colors they were “supposed” to be in my mind… This reminds me of a story about a young child who had begun coloring everything he did in black, nothing else. Troubled, the teacher arranged a conference with the child and his parents and asked him about all the black. He replied, “All my other crayons are broken”. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901/51 "2019-11-14T23:28:10Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Well darn. I was hoping to pioneer a new field of math incorporating color into the equations. It was bad enough when they put the alphabet in math, thankyouverymuch! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-colors-seeing-sounds/842901.md?page=2)